Arkadios Wealth Advisors Purchases 48,317 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Key Points

• Arkadios Wealth Advisors significantly increased its stake in AT&T by 68.1% during the 1st quarter, owning 119,242 shares worth approximately $3.37 million.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on AT&T, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target averaging $29.66.
• AT&T recently reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, surpassing estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, yielding approximately 4.04%.

Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 68.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 119,242 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 48,317 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in AT&T were worth $3,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 10,188 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $229,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 274,643 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 34,623 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 161.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,522,814 shares of the technology company's stock worth $57,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,673,693 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $197,500,000 after buying an additional 725,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, HSBC lowered AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.66.

AT&T Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.21 on Friday, hitting $27.62. The company had a trading volume of 6,640,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,779,449. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.64 and a twelve month high of $29.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.80 and a 200-day moving average of $26.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. AT&T's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.07%.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.